What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after an unexpectedly sharp rise in wholesale inflation fueled concerns about rising costs and their impact on corporate profits. The primary catalyst was the July 2025 Producer Price Index (PPI), a measure of inflation at the wholesale level, which jumped 0.9% against forecasts of a 0.2% rise. This represents the most significant monthly increase in over three years, pointing to mounting cost pressures for manufacturers, with tariffs cited as a key factor. This data complicates the Federal Reserve's upcoming interest rate decisions, as persistent inflation may prevent rate cuts, creating a headwind for cyclical sectors like Industrials.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Construction and Maintenance Services company Matrix Service (NASDAQ: MTRX) fell 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Matrix Service? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Custom Parts Manufacturing company Proto Labs (NYSE: PRLB) fell 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Proto Labs? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Professional Tools and Equipment company ESAB (NYSE: ESAB) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy ESAB? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Maintenance and Repair Distributors company Global Industrial (NYSE: GIC) fell 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Global Industrial? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• General Industrial Machinery company Crane (NYSE: CR) fell 3.4%. Is now the time to buy Crane? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Crane (CR)

Crane’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 8 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 4 months ago when the stock dropped 5.6% on the news that stocks gave back some of the gains from the previous day as the White House clarified the tariffs on imports from China would add up to 145%, while the baseline 10% tariffs remained in place for most countries. This added layer of uncertainty reminded investors that the global trade environment remained volatile, limiting the potential for sustained market gains. Also President Trump said he was willing to accept pain in the short term, and was aware his policies could cause a recession, but he remained more mindful of a more severe case of economic depression (higher unemployment and prolonged downturn). For investors, this suggested that the administration could prioritize long-term structural shifts over near-term economic stability, further increasing policy-driven risk in the markets.

Crane is up 26.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $190.98 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $198.45 from August 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Crane’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $3,135.

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